The University of Oxford has been awarded £5 million to support their cardiovascular disease research for the next five years.

The funds, granted by the British Heart Foundation, come from the charity's highly competitive Research Excellence Awards funding scheme and will aid Oxford researchers in making vital discoveries related to heart and circulatory diseases.

Professor Keith Channon, head of the Radcliffe department of medicine and BHF field marshal Earl Alexander chair of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Oxford, said: "The BHF Research Excellence Award underscores the scale, scope and quality of our research in heart and circulatory diseases.

"The new funding will support cross-disciplinary initiatives that will benefit patients by linking biological discovery science with data science and physical sciences, and will help to train the next generation of new research leaders."

The funding is aimed at providing the university the means to cultivate a world-class research environment that encourages collaboration across disciplines, inclusion and innovation.

Professor Angela Russell, Professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Oxford, said: "We are delighted to receive this new BHF Award which will allow us to build our connections with industry partners, and to pioneer a new entrepreneurship and innovation training programme to accelerate the development of future diagnostics and treatments for cardiovascular diseases."

The £5 million grant is a component of the British Heart Foundation's £35 million boost to UK cardiovascular disease research.

It will support researchers in the development of new tools and techniques, including artificial intelligence, to identify new mechanisms in cardiovascular diseases.

It will also aid researchers in testing new drug treatments and smart targeting methods.

Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: "We're delighted to continue to support research at the University of Oxford addressing the biggest challenges in cardiovascular disease.

"This funding recognises the incredible research happening at Oxford and will help to further its reputation as a global leader in the field.

"With generous donations from our supporters, this funding will attract the brightest talent, power cutting-edge science, and unlock lifesaving discoveries that can turn the tide on the devastation caused by heart and circulatory diseases."

The BHF's traditional, Research Excellence Awards, first launched in 2008, have provided the University of Oxford over £20 million in funding to date.

This support has laid the groundwork for innovative projects such as artificial intelligence tools capable of predicting heart attacks years in advance and research into the role of iron deficiency anaemia in congenital heart defects during pregnancy.